Inara has been having issues with her back flinching, and has been having trouble at flyball tournaments (bobbling on the box, slowing down, etc). She's not limping, or acting like anything bothers her otherwise. Last week, she was rolling around on her back in the yard...and yelped and jumped up like she'd been bitten.

I assumed it was her back, and we were hesitant, but tried her in flyball this weekend for one race. She was slow and obviously uncomfortable. So I gave her a rimadyl and sat her out for the rest of the weekend.

Today, I took her to the massage therapist that was at the site...which was a test of her acceptance of strangers... She didn't want to be anywhere near the stranger...but with the help of my dad, we got Inara on the bed for her massage. The therapist went down her back, and found no issues anywhere around her back.

But...she found that Inara didn't want to stretch her right rear leg out, and didn't want her to massage around there. She flinched a few times, and whipped her head around a few times...(and I had no worries that she was going to bite! yea!) . anyway...the therapist diagnosed a hip flexor strain...she said it's very common in canine athletes. She said to rest her, give her pain meds and get her into PT.

I'm gonna get a vet appt this week...but wondered if anyone had experience with this issue? I can't seem to find much via google search.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

LiLo has had a problem with this - she also has hip dysplasia so I partially blame it on that. My vet said strict rest for 2 weeks with Rimadyl for like a week of that time. She still has problems with it, my vet says diagnostically you could do like an MRI/CT to see if there's a tear or something really wrong but I don't have the money for something like that. When you hyper extend her right hip back you can actually feel a knot on there.

LiLo is really cautious of strangers but when we do anything vet related she just melts into a submissive puddle. We did some acupuncture a while back [our relief vet gave me a good deal] and I think it helped. She was really relaxed during the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it. I also do some massage for her [I am certified for horses] but she still constantly has muscle soreness issues with it. It's a very common injury and also one that is hard to really relieve if your dog is very active.

LiLo has had a problem with this - she also has hip dysplasia so I partially blame it on that. My vet said strict rest for 2 weeks with Rimadyl for like a week of that time. She still has problems with it, my vet says diagnostically you could do like an MRI/CT to see if there's a tear or something really wrong but I don't have the money for something like that. When you hyper extend her right hip back you can actually feel a knot on there.

LiLo is really cautious of strangers but when we do anything vet related she just melts into a submissive puddle. We did some acupuncture a while back [our relief vet gave me a good deal] and I think it helped. She was really relaxed during the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it. I also do some massage for her [I am certified for horses] but she still constantly has muscle soreness issues with it. It's a very common injury and also one that is hard to really relieve if your dog is very active.

Ah! Thanks so much! I'll google that instead!

I'm gonna rest her until the DSO at the end of August...so like 4 weeks, and then after the DSO, another four weeks until the CanAm Classic...where I hope she will be okay to compete in flyball. She'll be sitting out the Labor Day weekend tournament.

Inara is HA...fear-based, and while she was good for the massage therapist, it wasn't GREAT. She did okay, not truly relaxed...but let her rub. Then when the therapist brought out the cold laser treatment stuff, Inara flipped out and bolted off the bed (dog bed on the floor). So the therapist said that she might have to be sedated for PT. So we'll see what my vet says...I'm not sure I can afford true PT for her. I do have a friend that does animal acupuncture (teaches and administers)...so she might be able to help me out. I have to muzzle her for the vet, for everyone's safety...I think her last recourse would be to bite (she usually tries to hide or run), but I don't take chances with her. This is why I've been so glad that she's been pretty much sound for all of these years (she'll be 7 in Sept.).

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

LiLo has had a problem with this - she also has hip dysplasia so I partially blame it on that. My vet said strict rest for 2 weeks with Rimadyl for like a week of that time. She still has problems with it, my vet says diagnostically you could do like an MRI/CT to see if there's a tear or something really wrong but I don't have the money for something like that. When you hyper extend her right hip back you can actually feel a knot on there.

LiLo is really cautious of strangers but when we do anything vet related she just melts into a submissive puddle. We did some acupuncture a while back [our relief vet gave me a good deal] and I think it helped. She was really relaxed during the whole thing and seemed to enjoy it. I also do some massage for her [I am certified for horses] but she still constantly has muscle soreness issues with it. It's a very common injury and also one that is hard to really relieve if your dog is very active.

TheRedQueen wrote:Inara is HA...fear-based, and while she was good for the massage therapist, it wasn't GREAT. She did okay, not truly relaxed...but let her rub. Then when the therapist brought out the cold laser treatment stuff, Inara flipped out and bolted off the bed (dog bed on the floor). So the therapist said that she might have to be sedated for PT. So we'll see what my vet says...I'm not sure I can afford true PT for her. I do have a friend that does animal acupuncture (teaches and administers)...so she might be able to help me out. I have to muzzle her for the vet, for everyone's safety...I think her last recourse would be to bite (she usually tries to hide or run), but I don't take chances with her. This is why I've been so glad that she's been pretty much sound for all of these years (she'll be 7 in Sept.).

Even if you could do like one round of PT sedated maybe she would relax enough that the person could really get in there and work that muscle over a little bit. I mean even though it sounds like she did really well for the massage I'm sure she was still tense. LiLo is pretty much the same way she's never tried to bite anyone except for my brother because he challenged her but she's really submissive so she's very insecure and barks/growls at new people so I understand where you're coming from - I try really hard not to put LiLo in situations where she's going to fail also because even though she isn't a Pit Bull one bite and that's all she wrote.

Very interesting reading. Kimber suffered an acute injury of some sort several years ago that had her 3 legged for a long time. I had a great surgeon friend of mine take a look at her and while I don't remember him giving her injury and offical name it sounds very much like this might have been it. We did lots of PT, massage, and an acupuncture session with electric stimulation. It all helped but she was still out of comission for 6 months. She has never run the same since and I have given up on her as a working dog for fear of further injury. Last year she injured the opposite side but it must have been minor since she recovered fairly quickly with crate rest and NSAIDS.

Turns out that she has Hip issues...but with the joints, not the muscles. She basically has the beginnings of arthritis in her hips...hip dysplasia in the sense that her hip joints aren't smooth and tight anymore. She'll be seven this year...so I'm not surprised. The muscles over her hips are atrophying...so you can feel the bumps of her hip bones now (now that I know this, I realized that I've been thinking about asking the vet about this the next time Inara was in).

So basically, she's on the same supplements as the other broken red Aussies in the house...fish oil, Gluco/Chond/MSM and vitamin E. I have Dasequin for the others, so that's what she'll get too.

The vet said to keep her at her current weight (very good, about 42#)...and to keep her active. Stretching and warm-up/cool-down before exercise. Flyball is okay...but to give her pain killers before racing (we got Deramaxx this time instead of Rimadyl).

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

TheRedQueen wrote:Sorry, I posted on FB...but forgot to post over here too.

Turns out that she has Hip issues...but with the joints, not the muscles. She basically has the beginnings of arthritis in her hips...hip dysplasia in the sense that her hip joints aren't smooth and tight anymore. She'll be seven this year...so I'm not surprised. The muscles over her hips are atrophying...so you can feel the bumps of her hip bones now (now that I know this, I realized that I've been thinking about asking the vet about this the next time Inara was in).

So basically, she's on the same supplements as the other broken red Aussies in the house...fish oil, Gluco/Chond/MSM and vitamin E. I have Dasequin for the others, so that's what she'll get too.

The vet said to keep her at her current weight (very good, about 42#)...and to keep her active. Stretching and warm-up/cool-down before exercise. Flyball is okay...but to give her pain killers before racing (we got Deramaxx this time instead of Rimadyl).

hey man... 7 is not really old lady status, I don't care what they say!

Sounds like you have a good plan for her.

The relief vet at my work does acupuncture and LiLo hurt her left hip Thursday and was gimpy. I put her on methocarb/rimadyl but since the dr was in[friday] asked if she would mind doing acupuncture. Lilo was a bit worried at first even though she knows this vet, she was barking and growling and carrying on but she got over it and the dr was able to put a bunch of needles into her.

I haven't given her rimadyl since the morning of the acupuncture[friday] and I think she feels better. She isn't limping anymore and isn't squeaking like she was when Seth was trying to play with her Thursday. Of course one could argue that the rimadyl took down the inflammation but she only had two doses, one Thursday evening and one Friday morning. I don't think acupuncture is a cure all, especially because LiLo has hip dysplasia, but I think it definitely made her less muscle sore. It might be something to try if you could find someone willing to take the time to interact with Inara so she wasn't scared and then try some acupuncture. Might be something you could do after flyball events to help with soreness.

I guess I should add we've done acupuncture once before - sans pain medication and I know she was less back sore because on palpation before her muscles quivered, after the acupuncture they were relaxed so I do think it can def help in some situations. I don't think it's a cure all but is a good therapy to have access to.

The good thing is with Inara, she's not showing ANY signs other than *some* bobbling on the flyball box...no limping or hestitation while jumping onto furniture or anything. The vet said..."if she was just a pet, you probably wouldn't have figured this out so soon".

Inara really likes this vet, and didn't have to be muzzled...I was VERY proud of her. She wasn't happy, but there was no issue with the Dr. trying to manipulate her hips and legs around. She showed no signs of being sore in her legs/hips/back...so I'm guessing the massage therapist made her tense and jumpy. She's much more relaxed with this wonderful woman vet we have.

And yeah...Ripley (a month from turning 13)...agrees that 7 is not old!

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

TheRedQueen wrote:The good thing is with Inara, she's not showing ANY signs other than *some* bobbling on the flyball box...no limping or hestitation while jumping onto furniture or anything. The vet said..."if she was just a pet, you probably wouldn't have figured this out so soon".

Inara really likes this vet, and didn't have to be muzzled...I was VERY proud of her. She wasn't happy, but there was no issue with the Dr. trying to manipulate her hips and legs around. She showed no signs of being sore in her legs/hips/back...so I'm guessing the massage therapist made her tense and jumpy. She's much more relaxed with this wonderful woman vet we have.

And yeah...Ripley (a month from turning 13)...agrees that 7 is not old!

Well I'm glad to hear it's that way. With all of the joint stuff you're going to put her on I bet it's going to help a lot, fish oil is amazing.

TheRedQueen wrote:Sorry, I posted on FB...but forgot to post over here too.

Turns out that she has Hip issues...but with the joints, not the muscles. She basically has the beginnings of arthritis in her hips...hip dysplasia in the sense that her hip joints aren't smooth and tight anymore. She'll be seven this year...so I'm not surprised. The muscles over her hips are atrophying...so you can feel the bumps of her hip bones now (now that I know this, I realized that I've been thinking about asking the vet about this the next time Inara was in).

So basically, she's on the same supplements as the other broken red Aussies in the house...fish oil, Gluco/Chond/MSM and vitamin E. I have Dasequin for the others, so that's what she'll get too.

The vet said to keep her at her current weight (very good, about 42#)...and to keep her active. Stretching and warm-up/cool-down before exercise. Flyball is okay...but to give her pain killers before racing (we got Deramaxx this time instead of Rimadyl).

Erin, I forgot when I spoke to you on FB to tell you about Hyaluronic Acid...they're getting awesome results using it as a supplement in animals with joint issues...